Russia is reportedly planning to establish a nuclear power plant on the moon within the next decade.
This ambitious project aims to supply energy for its lunar space programme and a joint research station with China, as global powers intensify their efforts in lunar exploration.
Historically, Russia has held a prominent position in space, notably with Yuri Gagarin’s pioneering journey in 1961.
However, its dominance has waned in recent decades, with the nation now trailing behind the United States and, increasingly, China.
The country’s lunar aspirations faced a significant setback in August 2023 when its uncrewed Luna-25 mission crashed during a landing attempt.
Furthermore, the landscape of space launches, once a Russian speciality, has been revolutionised by figures such as Elon Musk, adding to the competitive pressure.
Lasers would be a viable option in space for power delivery.
Sort of? It seems to me that Darpa has only been able to transfer about 800 watts over a 5 mile distance. A nuclear power plant produces something, like, 500 megawatts? This wouldn’t be enough to justify the power production at that scale, not to mention I’m skeptical of any wireless solution that wouldn’t drop some energy efficiency and it would obviously require constant visibility which would also need manned guidance.
If this weren’t Elon musk, I would say producing liquid hydrogen wouldn’t be a terrible way to at least save unused power, but then you have a whole different host of problems.